A Structured Inquiry Lesson
In my inquiry lesson my students were asked to answer the following question: What is the best way to remove oil spills from the ocean? I took my students step by step through this lesson. We added the oil and then my students determined which method they would use to remove the oil from the water. I had a list of items to choose from, such as sponges, cups for scooping, soap and detergent. I had six groups of six. Two groups chose the sponges, one group chose the scooper, one group chose the soap and two groups chose the detergent. The students preceded with the inquiry. The students were surprised with the difficulty of removing the oil and the amount of oil that still remained in the water. They all came to the conclusion that it would be best not to have to remove the oil in the first place and that we should all use alternative resources. What they also agreed on is that in order for that this to work, we all had to be in agreement to use alternative resources. I have included lab sheets from the experiment to view.
